Liquid fuel



Patented July 8, 1930 PATENT OFFICE ANDRE LAURENT, OF BRUSSELS, BELGIUM mourn FUEL No Drawing. Application filed July 6, 1926, Serial No. l20,869, and in Belgium November 21, 1925.

This invention relates to a process for the improvement of liquid fuel such as mineral oils, vegetable and animal oils, coal tars, benzols and alcohols, and more particularly for the improvement of the combustibility of lamp oils (petroleum) and otherliquid hydrocarbons or heavy oils.

In engines utilizing the combustion of hydrocarbons, the separation of the molecules is as a rule the more violent, the heavier the hydrocarbon oil. The result is that the hydrogen burns before the carbon does, and the combustion of the latter, due to its igniting later, is only a partial one, and brings about a release of carbon which settles in the cylinder and produces carbonizing, or escapes in the form of black gases. To avoid the drawback in question, it has been proposed to add to liquid hydrocarbon fuels, organo-metallic compounds such as tetraethyl of lead. But though the use of such compounds can improve the combustion of heavy hydrocarbons, it has not only the drawback of carbonizing the engine cylinders with solid metal compounds formed during the combustion, but also that of spreading in the atmosphere, with the products of combustion, toxic metal vapours which have caused accidents.

It has now been found that the combustion 3 of liquid fuels and more particularly of hydrocarbon oils, can be improved, and a more complete combustion of the carbon ensured by retarding the combustion of the hydrogen of'such hydrocarbons, or that it is possible to bring about a beginning of combustion of the carbon, or even a hydrogenation of the fuel molecule, by the nascent hydrogen, by adding to the said liquid fuels a relatively small proportion of substances capable of oxidation, of the class of non-saturated hydrocarbons such as cyclic acetylenic hydrocarbons (C l-I It is also possible to add products which contain bodies of the series G ll' or which can form them in the course of the reactions occurring during their manufaciure, or during the use of fuels with which they are mixed; and it is even possible to add bodies of the series C H in which oxygen or other oxidizing agent'has been incorporated. It is known that terpenes, in particular, absorb oxygen and become powerful oxidizing agents. I

According to the present invention, to a heavy fuel such as lamp oil, can be added therefore terpenes and their isomeres and polymeres, such as. for instance essence of turpentine, essence of cloves, essence of copaiba, essence of cinnamon, limonene or citrene, or products containing these substances, as well as oxidized terpenes.

Non-saturated cyclic hydrocarbon compounds of the kind, singly or mixed, can be added to the heavy fuel by simultaneous injection into the chamber of the engine, or they can be added beforehand to the fuel to be improved, or mixed with the combustion air which ensures the combustion. Heavy fuels such as lamp oil (petroleum) mixed with one or more of the non-saturated cyclic hydrocarbons specified, can constitute a commercial product.

The improvement in the combustion or lamp oil and heavy oils by the addition of thehydrocarboncompoundsmentioned,seems to be due to the oxidizing power which these compounds acquire on contact with the combustion air.

Examples of composition of improved liquid fuels will be given below:

Ewample J.Lamp' oil of a specific gravity comprisedbetween 0.780 and 0.820 is mixed with 0.4 to 0.5% by weight of essence of turpentine, and with 0.002 to 0.003% by weight of cymeno. The mixture can be employed in explosion engines.

Example 2.Lamp oil of a specific gravity comprised between 0.780 and 0.820 is mixed with 0.3 'to 0.4% by weight of essence of turpentine, and with about 0.004% of essence of cinnamon, 0.002% of essence of cajeput and 0.001% of essence of cloves. The product can be used in explosion engines. I

In other examples of products prepared according to the invention, there can be utilized, in addition to the 1am oil, citrene, eugenol or iso-eugenol, coni eryl alcohol, singly or in mixtures, also in exceedinglyx small proportions.

Emample 3.- parts by weight of petroleum (lamp oil) improved in accordance with the preceding examples, are mixed with 50% by weight of light mineral essence or petrol of a density of 0.710.

The product obtained can replace in practice the use of petrol in explosion engines.

Ewample 4.Heavy mlneral oil or vegetable oil generally used in an internal-combustion engine, is mixed with 0.5 to 0.7% by weight of essence of turpentine, and with 0.002 to 0.003% of eugenol, or with a mixture of about 0.008% of cinnamic aldehyde and 0.1% hexamethylene. The products thus obtained constitute liquid fuels, the combustion of which is greatly improved when they are used in internal-combustion engines.

The invention is also applicable to benzol or to heavy oils obtained in the distillation of coals, to alcohols or other liquid fuels, the relatively small proportions of the cyclic acetylemc and cyclo-hexadiene compounds added bein about the same as for petroleums and their erivatives.

Essences of greater density mixed according to the invention with the said non-saturated cyclic com ounds, can be utilized as substitutes for lig t petrols or spirits of petroleum hitherto used in certain engines (aviation).

The invention is not limited to this or that of the examples given, and other proportions could be used for non-saturated cyclic hydrocarbons and e ven for the petrol or other diluting agent which enter into the composition of the products, without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Besides, practical experience has shown that the substances mentioned act rather by their presence in starting the oxidation, than by the proportions in which they are employed.

In using improved fuels according to the present invention, it is advisable to supply a greater quantity of combustion air, and a little more heat to the fuel to be gasified or atomized. The supply of the fuel, moreover, can often be reduced.

What I claim is:

1. A. rocess of treating liquid fuels to improve t eir combustion, compirsing the step of adding to the fuel very small amounts of terpenes and much smaller amounts of essence of cinnamon, essence of cajeput and essence of cloves.

2. A process of treating liquid fuels to improve their combustion, comprising the step of adding 0.1% by weight of terpenes, 0.004%

of essence of cinnamon, 0.002% of essence of ca eput, and 0.001% of essence of cloves.

testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

ANDRE LAURENT. 

